Appointed policy director last month, Parent, 32, left a potentially lucrative law practice and the political rat race in Sacramento to return to his hometown to dig in the weeds of affordable housing. He isn't giving up political ambitions entirely, but for now he's happy to operate in the background.

"I've found in the last couple of years in working in the public sector, you can have an enormous, positive impact in the world around you from the back benches," Parent said in his offices at the Smart Corner, a mixed-use project at Broadway and Park Boulevard.

Rick Gentry, the commission's president and CEO, assigned Parent the first task of monitoring and bird-dogging housing issues in the state capital, where he previously directed external affairs at the Department of Housing and Community Development after serving on Gov. Jerry Brown's 2010 campaign staff and transition team.

"A number of proposals that have been introduced in the Legislature can potentially have a real impact on housing opportunities here in San Diego," Parent said.

Here are excerpts from our interview:

Q: What are some of the challenges and solutions you see in housing in San Diego and the state?

A: There's a mismatch between the kind of housing that's available and what people can afford for housing. One thing is just planning better (to locate public transit close to housing). Young professionals want to live in urban areas and are not as interested in buying houses, buying cars. But there are few opportunities for them to do so and those opportunities are expensive. There are solutions to that. You can allow for denser development in certain areas (such as so-called micro-apartments), and maybe they don't make sense everywhere. You don't necessarily want to put a bunch of people without parking in a place without transit that will impact (nearby) residents. The biggest way to get over that (neighborhood opposition to dense development) is simply by education -- making sure people understand new projects can and will be built consistent with the neighborhood. We have a bigger challenge in affordable housing because there are some negative stereotypes. Those just are not true. Now, when someone build an affordable housing project in a neighborhood, it's usually the best kept-up project in an area.

Q: What are some of the issues you'll be dealing with at the housing commission?

A: SB391 (a bill introduced by Sen. Mark DeSaunier, D-Concord and coauthored by Assemblywoman Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, and carried over from 2012) is a big priority for the housing commission. That's projected to generate about $500 million a year (from increased document recording fees). That can make a real significant dent in the affordable housing need. Infrastructure financing is certainly a big topic here in San Diego. There's a growing realization that the kind of redevelopment we had before is probably not coming back. That doesn't mean there aren't other things that can come on and do substantially similar work. (Parent said cost containment on affordable housing is another issue and one step already taken reduced parking requirements.) There are plenty of things we can do in public policy that will make it easier and better to build affordable housing and leverage those limited dollars.